


Parting Gifts

by InCastielsWings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-24
Updated: 2012-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-31 16:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/346350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InCastielsWings/pseuds/InCastielsWings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean must make a decision and deal with unrelenting agony after his worst fear has come to life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Parting Gifts

_It’s just a swap_ , he thinks,  _and it’ll well be worth it_.  
   
        Dean stands on the dirt path in dark silence, shivering in the chilling midnight air, with a tin box grasped tightly between stiff fingers.  
        He trembles.  Not because it’s cold or because of what he’s about to do, but because he so desperately needs this to work.  A last ditch effort to fix his mistake.   Dean's head is spinning with the horrific images of last night, playing on a loop in his mind.   _This is the only way to make it right_.  It’s Dean’s responsibility and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t see this through to the end.   
        In one swift movement, Dean drops to his knees, dewy soil drenching dark patches in his jeans as he scrapes away at the earth with his free hand.  The pebbles in the ground are pushing painfully into his knees, his fingernails staining brown from the soil.  
        But his face is calm, stoic, as he carefully places the box into the shallow opening and smoothes dirt over, concealing it.  His pulse quickens and his stomach gives a few nervous leaps as he stands, brushing his soiled hands on the sides of his jeans.  
        Dean waits at the crossroads, equally anxious and terrified, because he knows this is the only way to bring Sam back.  To right his wrongs and make amends with himself for failing, for losing the most important thing in his life.  He thinks about Sam.  Sam, who’s lying cold on a dirty mattress.  Sam, who’s waiting for Dean to save him.  Sam, who he shouldn't have let die in the first place.  
        “Sam,” Dean breathes out, feeling the familiar word slip through his lips, steam escaping his mouth in a quickly dissipating puff.  
        And then Dean makes the mistake of letting his mind wander with the sound of his brother's name.   _What if this doesn’t work_ , he thinks, what if he’s just being selfish because he knows he has no life without Sam.  He blinks tears away as the logical part of his mind tries to convince himself that Sam can never come back, that he’ll have to go on without his little brother, the one person in this world who's kept him sane.  
        Dean closes his eyes, trying to expel these vicious, uncontrollable thoughts.  He breathes in deep and swears he hears Sam’s voice, can feel him by his side, waiting.  Nothing will stop Dean from trading his life for his brother’s and he’ll die happy knowing Sam’s still alive.  He'll know that he did his job, that he did everything he could to save Sam.  
        Dean will spend the rest of eternity in Hell, with no regrets and the fading memory of Sam.  
   
         _It’s just a swap_ , he reminds himself, as he waits alone in the darkness with Sam's voice in his ear.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! :D


End file.
